Overview: Overview: Dr. Priya Kalyan-Masih, a full-spectrum bilingual doula and certified lactation and education specialist, founded Love Your Best Life LLC in 2023 to offer culturally competent care to families with their prenatal, birthing, postpartum, and pregnancy loss journeys. She partnered with Victor Valley College to lead 24-hour, three-day doula certification training sessions to aspiring non-clinical birth workers. The sessions fulfill Medi-Cal training requirements and are available in the spring, summer, and fall; with the fall session being in Spanish. The training program has grown in size since its inception last year, and former students are now helping to facilitate the sessions.
Alyssah Hall
Full-spectrum bilingual (Spanish/English) doula and certified lactation and education specialist, Dr. Priya Kalyan-Masih, founded her doula service Love Your Best Life, LLC in 2023 to offer culturally competent care to help families with their prenatal, birthing, postpartum, and pregnancy loss journeys.
Dr. Kalyan- Masih partnered with Victor Valley College (VVC) last year to lead a 24 hour; across three days, doula certification training sessions to aspiring non-clinical birth workers.
The sessions fulfill Medi-Cal training requirements and are available in the Spring, Summer and Fall; with the Fall session being in Spanish.
The most recent doula certification training was the Spring session which held classes April 11, April 12, and May 16. Classes were held from 9am-5pm at the Victor Valley College (VVC) Community Education-Class Room and certified 20 new doulas on May 16, 2026.
“We do follow the Medi-Cal curriculum, they require 16 hours at least of childbirth education, anatomy and physiology, lactation support, [and] creating a community resource list…But we expand on that, because I felt like 16 hours was not enough,” Dr. Kalyan-Masih said.
“This is why I added on the additional day, and I go very intensely into hospital work. That’s where most of the doulas will be working. As Medi-Cal doulas that’s really where our patients are delivering, so that’s where I spend a lot of time,” she continued.
Carla Randolph was inspired to complete the doula certification training last July by Dr. Kalyan-Masih who was her doula for her third child. Randolph recalls during her labor how Dr. Kalyan-Masih motivated her during and afterwards, which left her with the desire to want to be that supportive presence for someone else.
“A doula is important, especially in our high desert community, because… just a lack of help. A lot of times, you don’t have family or friends, so could you imagine being pregnant, first baby, not knowing the ins and outs of labor. If you have a doula, you have a friend, someone that you could call and ask questions, and [there’s] no stupid question,” Randolph shared.
“I’ve had five clients so far. Sometimes it gets hard, because [of] the emotions I feel just watching these babies being born. Just knowing that I was able to give these women knowledge that Priya’s given me, or what I’ve experienced in my own births…I feel so blessed to be able to be that happiness for them; to give them that knowledge,” Randolph added.
Randolph, along with Xavier Evans, who recently became certified in the Spring session, have both been selected by Dr. Kalyan-Masih to help facilitate the upcoming summer session. Dr. Kalyan-Masih did the teaching and everything else behind the scenes for her first class of eight students when she began the training program last year. Since then, the classes have grown in size and she has recognized she can’t do it all alone. Dr. Kalyan-Masih began pulling students from former sessions to help the incoming students, as well as a former student from her Spanish class.
Evans is the first high school student to complete the VVC and Love Your Best Life, LLC doula certification training and was inspired to take the training when Dr. Kalyan-Masih visited his school and did a doula presentation.
“The class was 10 out of 10. I really enjoyed it. I got to meet people I would have never met. We got emotional, we got serious. I feel like I learned about myself as well in the class. I think it was amazing,” Evans said.
Evans believes that it’s empowering to help others, especially those without a support system. He aspires to be a labor and delivery nurse and feels that the doula training will help him connect to mothers on a different level than just nursing would.
For those that are curious about joining the doula certification program, Randolph and Evans encourage them to “just do it”. Evans expanded on this saying even if they do not have the intentions of becoming a doula, the class offers important knowledge about birthgivers’ bodies, options, rights and things that he said aren’t normalized or spoken about. Randolph agreed and shared that the people they’ll meet, whether it’s birthgivers, or doctors, offer unexpected learning opportunities and inspiration.
“I remember so many women, and hearing their stories, and being like, ‘Oh my goodness, if they can go through that, I can go through this too,’” Randolph shared.
Evans also noted that the program is good for networking and Randolph noted that the certification can open the door for other opportunities and growth and maybe even potentially becoming a midwife.
“From day one of the training to day three, they’re all quiet in the beginning, and we do a lot of role playing. But by day three…they really come out of their shells. They share their stories, they’re vulnerable. So, as a teacher, it’s really rewarding to see the growth in a short amount of time, and knowing that you played a small part in their journey,” Dr. Kalyan-Masih explained.
The next doula certification training sessions will be held this summer on July 11, July 12, and August 1, 2026. For registration information visit www.VVC.EDU/COMMUNITY-EDUCATION and scroll down the page to find the doula certification training registration link. Registration closes on July 3, 2026 at 12:00 a.m.